Hi,
Funny old game, life, a woman goes to prison for a crime she didn’t commit and then the Police Chief who was behind the torn plastic bag (well you can’t call it a case as they are usually solid built), has a taste of justice…the other side of justice.
Here is what I mean
£191k top copper in corruption probe
Adrian Holliday 
Aug 4th 2011
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Filed under: News , Public Services, Scandals
Highly paid Cleveland chief constable Sean Price, 53 (pictured) and deputy Derek Bonnard, 45, have been suspended on corruption allegations. Ex-Cleveland police legal services head Caroline Llewellyn - who departed recently with a £213,000 pay-off - was also questioned yesterday. And other questions hang around too.
Called in for questioning
The current investigations focus on a range of business contracts, including an £87,000 PFI maintenance contract belonging to a company that also employed Dave McLuckie, the chairman of Cleveland Police Authority.
Another unrelated concern is the investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Authority into an allegation that Sean Price used his influence in order for McLuckie’s daughter to get a job. Price has attacked the allegation as “malicious”.
Rank-and-file officers don’t care much, it’s thought, for Price’s leadership skills currently; he bagged a £20,000 bonus last year just when the force was being hit by large spending cuts.
Credibility
Price’s arrest is thought to be the first arrest of a chief constable since the 1950s. The UK police is already reeling from the senior police resignations following the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.
Don’t forget too the behaviour of Mark Kennedy, the police officer who infiltrated green protesters for seven years under the alias Mark Stone, but endangered the lives of many as a consequence, as well as discrediting the National Public Order Intelligence Unit.
Other corruption worries
So there are increasing concerns about how the UK police handle themselves. For example, if you complain about police behaviour to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, the police investigate. How independent is that?
Or what about the role of the Crown Prosecution Service. Its job is not to decide guilt of innocence. Its job is to secure prosecutions. And if they’re proved wrong, the CPS is nowhere in sight. Where’s the justice in that?
And did you know that the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) is not an official government organisation but a private company with an income of (2009 figures) around £18m? And because it’s a private organisation, any Freedom of Information requests about its operations can be ignored.
Still think the British police can be trusted?
Well that Journalist seems to have a few issues with the Police and sadly he is not alone, so many people I know are not exactly chuffed with the response. Shame as there are many coppers out there that are a credit to the service. But the Police only reflect the society they come from and the society we live in all too often focuses on greed and selfish behaviour. Money …money …money, what sort of car you drive etc etc.
Just got back from Scandanvia (Denmark & Sweden) and have to say very impressed by the society there and the Police. Walked through an area in Copenhagen that was not the most charming, but the local ‘troublemakers’ would come nowhere near us. I reckon the Police must get the message across to them it isn’t going to be fun for them if they hassle the tourists. There was an incident of a break in and the Police were there promptly with crime scene kit. In Malmo a street market had packed up for the evening and just left the crockery items wrapped under a protective cover (from the weather) if that had been in the UK it would all have to have been moved and locked up for fear of theft or criminal damage.
They have crimes of course, but even in the Railway stations of which we saw many, they were like film sets from some hi-tech future and not a bit of graffiti (some did have bits of course). The police seemed to be trusted there, as an ex British Bobby proud to have served and met lots of people from all over the globe to represent in a very small way the virtues of a very famous police image/brand, I think we used to be trusted by many more.
It is so sad that some at the top have been found out to be little porkers who have been gorging in the trough of greed. Whilst thoose on the front lines take the flak too many at the top having been taking the cream, there will be others who are worried.
We need to review the Police, the links with the CPS, Politicians, the Government of the day, the press and not least of course their relationship with the public. That’s who they are there to help.
But I do hope whatever happens in this particular case, never pleasant to be accused of a crime whoever you are, lets hope justice is done…innocent till proven guilty of course, I just hope Mr Price doesn’t have expert witnesses used against him as they can make up anything and get away with it…and we wouldn’t want that would we Mr Price?